REFLECTION

 xx

Over the three years of being a fashion student, at times it was hard to define myself as a designer and find my own voice within such an illustrious industry, but making it to the end of my degree it surprises me that without realizing it, that I have done just that. I have learnt so much about myself not only as a designer but also about my own strengths and weaknesses. Coming to the end of my final collection, through all the late nights of sewing and endless areas of problem solving, i am still just as excited about design as I was when I first started. At the back of my mind I was always scared that I would lose my love for design by dissecting and studying it to the point of exhaustion, but I can proudly say that if anything my passion has strengthened. The final year of creating my final collection as well as interning has really helped to open my eyes to what the next stage of my life will/can be. 

I have often said that I am never whole-heartedly pleased with something that I have created. There is always more that I could do, things to improve, doubt in the back of my mind, but for once I can say that I am extremely pleased with the result of my final collection. I finally understand what it means to put so much of yourself into something, to be completely open and vulnerable in your thought process and the story you are trying to convey and most of all, to be proud in your own work.

All I can hope for is that people enjoy my collection as much as I enjoyed making it. 

xx

Zabrena

SUB X SIREN : FINAL COLLECTION PHOTOSHOOT

Photographer: Patricia Casten

Model: Brittany Roosenbaum

Makeup Artist / Hair Styling : Patricia Eleazar 

Styling : Zabrena Lopez

 

xx

 

I would like to thank everyone who helped out with the photo shoot for such a successful day. This made the entire journey completely worth it and I am privileged to have been able to work with such amazing talent. 

PRESS RELEASE: S [ U B ] I R E N

Photographer: Patricia Casten

Model: Brittany Roosenbaum

Makeup Artist / Hair Styling : Patricia Eleazar 

Styling : Zabrena Lopez

The Autumn Winter 2014 Collection, Sub x Siren,  celebrates one of the many facets of the Zabrena Lopez woman. She is anything but ordinary, complex in emotions and even more so in her sense of style. She is strong and resilient, but not afraid to be vulnerable. She shows only what she wants to show, submissive not only by nature but more importantly by choice.

Sub x Siren tells the story of not only the dominant and submissive nature of people, but also draws inspiration from the original tale of The Little Mermaid, depicted in the 1968 Russian film of the same name. The collection seeks to find the strength, devotion and essence of the sacrifice that the little mermaid makes as she submits her life to become human and be with the prince. Contrast is a very big element to the collection, from the contrast of themes to the contrast of volume and silhouettes. People are not one dimensional, and neither are their clothes. 

Consisting of 20 pieces of sheer mesh overlays, panelled leotards,   leather harnesses, printed trousers, heavy woolen jackets and sculptured jumpers, the collection is intricate in detail. The colour palette of nude, black and white allows the pieces to be worn in various ways, as well as falling seamlessly into any existing wardrobe. The subtlety of the collection gives the wearer full control of how to wear the pieces.

To celebrate the debut of Sub x Siren, tickets can be purchased for the runway event at www.chapeloffchapel.com.au

 

BEHIND THE SCENES

 

 digital print samples / mesh leotard sample / leotard x black harness skirt / leotard x sheer embellished skirt / leotard x digital print skirt / behind the scenes photoshoot

xx

 from final print to photoshoot

PROGRESS

Progress ! I initially had another dress in mind for my finale dress, but the simplicity in this silhouette and the way it drapes on the body is making me re-think my decision !

TOUCH (PT 3) IMPRESSIONS X SCOUT PARE-PHILLIPS

Impressions / Scout Pare- Phillips

self portrait series, 8/10. digital.
January/February 2011

//

I am so obsessed with this series !

INSPIRATION: EMILY BROWNING X SLEEPING BEAUTY (2011)

Sleeping Beauty (2011) / directed by Julia Leigh

I found something so fascinating about this film. I cannot decide whether it was the unwavering feeling of intrigue, admiration and beauty in a film with undoubtedly confronting and vulgar scenes or the beautiful costumes but I loved it all so much. There is no denying that this film was unsettling and  confronting, but the juxtaposition was done so beautifully that I remained captivated the entire sitting. This feels like a film that you just have to watch to appreciate (and perhaps google the meaning after which I won't deny that I did.) Pure genius. 

My favourite part of the film were the costumes worn by the girls at the dinner party, and also the scenes in which she does the lab tests for money (fourth frame.) it was very difficult to watch as she put the tube down her throat, but i found this insanely clever. Here is a film review that explains why in words better than I ever could:

"Lucy’s ambivalence towards sex is also expressed in the film’s refusal to sexualise any of what is on screen. No actual acts of sex are shown and the extensive shots of naked or half naked characters are cold and detached, sometimes bordering on the absurd in the case of the dinner parties with the lingerie-wearing waiting staff. A common critique of pornography, and the appropriation of the pornographic aesthetic in mainstream culture, is that images that have adopted such endlessly replicated and industrialised representations of sexuality are in fact drained of any actual eroticism or sensuality. By visually and narratively presenting various situations where the expression of sexuality is artificial, Sleeping Beauty appropriates this idea and prevents the viewer from engaging with the sexual content in any emotional way. The dominant gaze of heterosexual men is thus exposed and therefore denied, allowing the film to delve deeper into ideas of intimacy and violation.
The men who pay to be in the room with Lucy while she is drugged asleep are repeatedly told that no penetration is allowed, further fitting in with the film’s absence of what is typically regarded as sex. In fact, the only time we actually see Lucy penetrated is in the opening, and then one subsequent scene later, when she swallows a balloon attached to a long tube for a medical experiment she’s being paid to take part in. Using the sterile environment of a laboratory for this visceral and unconventionally invasive, yet consensual, violation of her body sets up the film perfectly." 

Thomas Caldwell, 2011
Cinema Autopsy
(click for link)

So obsessed with this film, sigh !